Your Next Breath

“Whatever.” She met his eyes. “It should all be settled by that time anyway.” She smiled faintly. “Or it will be two minutes later.”

“Not fu

“No, you’re very serious. Not like you at all. You usually have a lighter touch.”

“I’m having a problem with watching you walk into that tomb when we don’t know what’s waiting for you.”

“Santos’s gun is lying there on the ground. He has my dagger, but he’ll have a tough time using it with that wounded hand.” She held up her Luger. “And I have a gun, and I’ll have no trouble using it.”

“Santos may have run back into that tomb for a reason.”

She shrugged. “Maybe he feels safe with his Delores.”

“Or maybe he’s setting a trap for you.”

“Possible.” She knew it was more than possible that Santos might have other weapons in that tomb. But she’d tried to distract Cameron from dwelling on it. Obviously not with any degree of success. “But I won’t know if you keep me pi

“And I won’t forgive you if you get yourself killed before that,” he said roughly. “You be careful, you stay alive. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you.” She gave him a faint smile over her shoulder. “I’ll do my best to obey. Now get out of here and do your job.” She pressed to one side of the door and drew a deep breath.

Throw the door wide.

Go in low and fast.

Count to three.

One.

Her hand closed on the bronze handle.

Two.

Position.

Three.

She threw the door wide, bent low, and dove through the doorway! She rolled on the floor behind the shelter of one of the gilt throne chairs.

And a bullet splintered the wood next to her head!

Santos did have a gun.

“Welcome, Catherine, I’ve been waiting for you. You took long enough.” Santos’s voice was mocking. “Were you afraid?”

“Of whom? You? That corpse?” She moved to the side. “You’re cornered like the rat you are. Your Delores is nothing, nonexistent.”

“Liar. Stupid bitch. She does exist.”

Another shot, this time striking the floor beside her leg.

The shot had come from somewhere behind that glass coffin. Make him speak so that she could judge the exact direction.

“Where did you get the gun, Santos?”

“Delores. Do you think I’d put her to rest without her favorite weapon? She loved this gun. I bought it for her in Paris, then gave her a target to practice on. She made him last four days, almost tore him apart.” He paused. “She had it the day you killed her. It took Dorgal weeks to negotiate that gun away from the police. But I placed it in a pearl-and-gold case on the table by the coffin.”

From the sound of his voice, Santos had to be near the foot of the coffin.

“Touching. Very touching. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind your using it as she would.” She got off a shot.

He muttered a curse.

She must have been close.

She heard him moving. To the left, perhaps beside that oak table …

Bring him out in the open.

“Let’s see how durable that coffin is,” she said. “How does it withstand bullets?”

She fired four shots in rapid succession at the coffin.

They pinged, then flew off the transparent surface in all directions.

“Did you think I’d leave her vulnerable?” he said scornfully. “Montez had orders to make sure it was indestructible. The worst that could happen is that Montez will have to polish that Plexiglas surface to get the scratches out.”

“I don’t believe you’ll get Montez to do that service. He has other plans.” She got off another shot. “And you won’t be around to try to change them.”

“Yes, I will. I could have been out of here a few minutes after I ran through that door. I was only waiting for you.”

She tensed. “Bluffing?”

“No, that wonderful Persian carpet on the floor behind the coffin. It hides a trapdoor that leads past the cryogenic equipment to an underground passage ending at a boat dock. I’ll be off the island five minutes after I kill you. Then I start over.”

“How?”

“Bribes. Murder. Intimidation. It’s a corrupt world. I’ll survive and climb to the top again.”

He believed it. And he was making Catherine believe it, too. He had survived her killing Delores and managed to get out of prison. He had caused the death of three of her friends and threatened others. If he got out of here, she had no doubt that threat would be realized.

“You wouldn’t abandon your Delores.”

“She will be fine until I can get her back. Montez’s work is a breakthrough. There will be people standing in line who will want to make sure that the formula and process of what he did with Delores can be used on others.” He added harshly, “But I’m not going to forgive or forget your making us go through this. I’ll go down the list, and everyone you’ve tried to keep alive will die. Luke, first. Then Hu Chang. And I’ll go from there. You might remember that in these last few minutes you have.”

She could tell he had moved again. Was he heading for that trapdoor?

No! He was to her left. Very close.

And he had a clear shot.

She dove behind the chair.

Pain.

She cried out.

The bullet had burned the flesh of her right shoulder.

“Got you.” Santos’s voice was triumphant, then more regretful. “I wish I had more time…” He was moving toward the trapdoor. “But if you’re not dead, you will be. And I still may have the pleasure of doing those kills while you watch. Just a postponement…”

She heard the trapdoor open.

No! She struggled to her knees. “Not a postponement, Santos. You’re through.”

But he was disappearing down the steps to the tu

“One minute. No more.”

But in one minute, Santos could be out of danger and halfway to that dock.

She whirled back and ran toward the trapdoor. She could see Santos on the second landing of the spiral staircase. Make him stop. “Santos, come back here. I’m waiting for you. Delores is waiting for you. Do you know what’s going to happen? You know all those explosions that blew up your hill? Cameron still had some of his clever little devices left over. So he set a few outside the tomb at strategic points. Montez helped him to make sure the blast would be strong enough to send this tomb straight to hell. To send Delores straight to hell.”

“You’re lying. He wouldn’t destroy his work.” But he had stopped and was looking back up at her. “He was proud of it. Proud of her.”

“Maybe proud of his work, but he always knew what a monster he’d created.”

Thirty more seconds.

Distract him. Keep him talking.

“I have a present for you.” She took Jane’s gold dog tag out of her pocket and threw it at him. He automatically reached out and caught it. “I promised Eve I’d give it to you after you had Jane shot.”

He smiled. “And killed.”

“No, she’s still alive. You’ve been had, Santos.”

His smile faded. “I don’t believe you.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve failed all around. Including with Delores. You said she’d never be vulnerable. That blast is going to do considerably more damage than a bullet to that pretty coffin.”

“No.” His eyes were wide, glaring with rage and panic as he turned to face her. “Stop it. They can’t do that to her.”

Ten seconds.

“Watch us. She’s dead. So are you.”

Five seconds.

“Catherine.” Cameron had burst through the door and was by her side. “Get the hell out of here.” He was dragging her toward the entrance. “Leave him.”

“I am.” It was safe now. She had kept Santos away from the tu